For several years Jordan was considered the unquestioned best player. There was a period of time where Bryant surpassed him in the eyes of some, and now both champion as James having overtaken both players.

Cleveland Browns teammates Chad Thomas and Christian Kirksey joined the debate on HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which was prompted when the latter brought up James’ standing being a topic of discussion since his signing with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Thomas passionately defended Bryant as being worthy of ranking ahead of James:

Kirksey responded by curiously comparing Jordan, James and Bryant to a trio of musicians:

“Michael Jackson is Michael Jordan, Chris Brown is LeBron, and Usher is Kobe.”

Further evidenced by the exchange between Browns teammates, essentially any opinion can be crafted when arguing where Jordan, Bryant and James stand. For his part, Bryant has argued the players should not be compared against one another and instead celebrated for their respective accomplishments.